Focus 2015, issue 1

2015, ISSUE 1

Focus Vol. XIV, Issue 1, 2015

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02 From the Executive Director 03 From the Editor

21 Setting goals, scoring goals ASOMEX soccer returns to ASF for the first time in more than a decade

04 From the Board of Trustees

By Andrew Livingstone

News and Events

26 Going places ASF art teacher Jason Schell is making his mark in the classroom and on Mexico City

05 A look at what’s been happening in 2015 so far

Features

13 A great place to work ASF is recognized by the Great Place to Work Institute

By Andrew Livingstone

14 The Faces of Success ASF Talks taught us how to learn from our failures

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

30 Making learning sweeter The Middle School’s Mazahua Tianguis project is a great example of interdisciplinary learning

By Andrew Livingstone

36 Student Voices Taking a stance on marijuana legalization

By Ana Lucero Villaseñor

Institutional Advancement

37 The IA cocktail party Polanco’s Au Pied de Cochon was the setting of the first party for ASF parents of 2015

Alumni

39 Alumni Events People of all ages come together to Run for Education 40 Profile: Manuel Wiechers Bringing light to rural Mexico

By Andrew Livingstone

32 This time it’s personal Grade 10 students share their passions at the Personal Project Fair

42 Class Notes

20 Remembering David Ehrenreich

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

44 Kids’ Corner

By Diana Anhalt (’59)

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 1

from the executive director

Dear ASF Community, You’ve no doubt seen The American School Foundation’s tagline, which can be found on the ASF logo and most of our communications.

It’s just seven simple words: Educating global citizens for a changing world. The words are so ubiquitous around ASF that perhaps you do not notice it, or have not really stopped to think about what it really means. It is not just an empty slogan. It’s a very important part of our day-to-day work toward achieving our mission. Education, of course, is the core reason we exist, much like other schools. But we at ASF are more than just an international school; we’re a community of global citizens.

What do we mean by global citizens?

To me the best example of educating global citizens is seen through the International Baccalaureate curriculum we follow. The IB Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma programs aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to succeed. It teaches more than information, it encourages students to take charge of their own learning and discover that they are part of a local and international environment. As such, it fosters empathy and the will to build a better world.Additionally, through our many extracurricular efforts such as Model United Nations, debate, and public speaking, our students further enhance their experience through practical exercises.

Finally, we have the last phrase in our tagline: a changing world.

The world is always changing, and new teaching methods are always being developed. At ASF, we recognize that schools need to be constantly updating not just what they teach, but how they teach, drawing from the best of American independent education. That is a guiding principal we are always looking to improve upon. While students enjoy a day off from classes, Professional Development Days are a chance for our teachers to learn more about how to better use technology, utilize language and integrate different ideas both inside and outside of the classroom. The Center for Teaching Excellence is also available as a tool for faculty members to gain extra support and seek out opportunities as life-long learners.

Attending the ASF Talks event in February assured me that we are doing an effective job in reaching our mission. Seeing former students return to campus and hearing about the wonderful ways in which they have worked to improve the lives of others demonstrates that those seven words are no advertising slogan. We truly are dedicated to educating global citizens for a changing world.

Paul Williams Executive Director

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from the editor

FOCUS

A magazine for the ASF community Vol. XIV | Issue 1 | Mexico City Paul Williams Executive Director Susan Olivo Head of Early Childhood Center Tara Fitzgerald Head of Lower School Rebecca Crutchfield Head of Middle School Amy Gallie Head of Upper School Robert Wilson Head of Athletics & Extended Learning

Dear Readers, Welcome to the first Focus of 2015, and the first printed spring issue in many years. Thanks to a great effort by the team here and strong support from school leadership, we will now be printing all three editions of Focus each year.

Focus is distributed across the large ASF community — to parents, faculty, staff and alumni all around the world. It is also read by students as well as their parents and even grandparents, so we try to cater to a broad reader base of all ages and interests. And we do it all without compromising on our mission to keep you informed of what’s happening at ASF now and into the future.

I hope you like the content we’re bringing to you. You can always send me comments, suggestions and feedback to livingstonea@asf.edu.mx.

We hit the ground running on the return from winter holiday, with students preparing for a range of exams. Outside the classroom, sports teams trained for early-year tournaments. ASF was proud to successfully host the ASOMEX Varsity Soccer Tournament here on campus in early February. You can read about it — and about our special motivational speaker — starting on page 21.

It’s a busy time of year. Outstanding members of our community were honored on Founders’ Day, grandparents spent a special day with their grandchildren at the ECC, and as you read this, our spring drama production of Into the Woods is probably not long finished.

Editorial Staff Violeta Ayala, Director of Communications Andrew Livingstone, Editor-in-Chief Kelly Arthur Garrett, Editorial Consultant Daniela Graniel, Art Director Álvar Martínez, Photography Alumni Relations María José Martínez martinezmj@asf.edu.mx Parent Association Adriana Ramos, President Marissa Russell (’92), Vice President Advertising Sales: 5227-4942 FOCUS es una publicación cuatrimestral editada por The American School Foundation, A.C., Sur 136 #135, Col. Las Américas, México, D.F., C.P. 01120. Editor Responsable: Andrew Livingstone.

Derechos de Autor: Licitud de Título y de Contenido 16220. Reserva de Derecho: 04-2008-111212240200-102.

Distribuido por The American School Foundation, A.C. Sur 136 #135, Col. Las Américas, México, D.F., C.P. 01120. Se prohibe la reproducción total o parcial de los textos de esta revista sin previa autorización escrita de The American School Foundation, A.C.

At Focus, we try to maintain a link between our former students and life at the school. In its second year, ASF Talks saw a large number of alumni visit their old school, some for the first time in many years. Our (relatively new) alumni relations specialist, María José Martínez, is working to improve our relationship with both recent and not-so-recent graduates. See our alumni section starting on page 39 for more details.

Enjoy reading about what makes ASF so special.

Andrew Livingstone Editor-in-Chief

On the cover: The six ASF Talks presenters relax in the Upper School building.

Photo by Álvar Martínez

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 3

from the board of trustees

The 2014-15 Board of Trustees

Spring has arrived to Mexico City, and therefore to the ASF campus.

The spring semester of the school year is a very active time. Most of us get invited to visit the campus and enjoy our children’s academic, athletic or artistic development.

Students are always proud to demonstrate what their teachers have inspired in them. This year has not been an exception.

ASF hosted the ASOMEX Varsity Soccer Tournament where American School students from diverse states visited to compete for the championship. Our students were able to interact with their peers from many schools, and it was inspiring to see them be generous hosts.

Our soccer teams have been very active. The girls JV team won third place in Monterrey and both the boys and girls’ team won the Sportsmanship trophies.

ASF’s Sixth Run for Education took place with close to 1,300 people in attendance. Soon we will be invited to attend Athletics and Extended Learning open classes, where students will be able to show off all they have learned.

The second ASF Talks was also a great success. It brought onto campus five outstanding alumni, as well as one current student, who all presented stories of how they turned failure into success.

Also recently, the IB diploma candidates presented their Creativity, Action and Service projects. And the Model United Nations, where students representing different countries openly discussed and tried to solve the pressing social and political issues of the day, also took place. The PYP fair will be taking place shortly.

This season is the time when the theater performance can be seen. This year the production will be “Into the Woods.” The fourth grade will be presenting their operas and showing peers and parents their creative and organizational abilities.

There will be various concerts, for all grade levels with choir and band. And there will be art exhibitions and so much more.

During the second semester of the school year, students have the chance to really demonstrate their growth. If you have attended any of the events, I hope that you enjoyed them. If you have not, I would like to encourage each of you to attend some of the events taking place. They truly demonstrate how students, guided by their teachers, fulfill the mission of the school.

Rosa Marentes de Pisinger (’87) Chair of the ASF Board of Trustees

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Rosa Marentes de Pisinger (’87) Chair Thurston F. Hamer (’81) First Vice Chair Joan Danielle Liechty Treasurer Carla Ormsbee Cedeño Secretary Aliki Botton de Elías (’85) César Buenrostro Moreno (’85) Sebastián Fernández Cortina Fernando Franco Bustillas Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa Frances E. Huttanus Antonio Rallo Verdugo Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui John Santa Maria Otazúa (’75)

Ex-Oficio Members: Eric A. Flohr Randall S. Nelson

Committees: Executive Rosa Marentes de Pisinger, Chair Buildings and Grounds César Buenrostro Moreno, Chair Finance and Investment Joan Danielle Liechty, Chair Governance Carla Ormsbee Cedeño, Chair Institutional Advancement Frances E. Huttanus, Chair Technology Antonio Rallo Verdugo, Chair

News & Events

Lower School

Ms. Tara kisses a pig

Faculty, staff and students from all over the Lower School cheered and laughed as Head of School Tara Fitzgerald knelt in front of them at the flag raising ceremony one March morning to kiss a pig. Tara had generously agreed to plant one on porky if the Lower School community could raise $20,000 pesos in one day for the Endowment Fund for Financial Aid. Giving day turned into a huge success — perhaps as many were motivated by their head’s offer to embarrass herself — and a

grand total of $41,414.55 pesos was collected, more than double the goal. Other members of the Lower School leadership team was encouraged by students to join in and one by one, Jordan Maas, Monique Autrique and Diego Zaragoza puckered up for a kiss and a lick from “Pinky.” The money raised from giving day, which is set to become an annual event, will go toward providing financial aid for talented students who otherwise would not be able to afford an ASF education. See our Institutional Advancement section starting on page 37 for more details on the Annual Fund.

All ASF

Book fair promotes reading culture

Readers of all ages found something to entertain themselves with in the Lower School Multipurpose Room in March.

Presented by Gandhi bookstores, the Spanish-language Book Fair was a chance for the community to promote reading, especially among ECC and Lower School children. During the fourday fair, special guests like storyteller Guillermo Jair and actor Enrique Arreola visited to read to students and answer questions about careers in creative arts. volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 5

news & events Upper School

IB Arts Exhibition

Upper School students studying toward the International Baccalaureate in arts showed off their portfolios in the Fine Arts Center and Founders’ Garden for two weeks in March. The IB arts program gives students the freedom to experiment and find their best form of expression, and it showed as painting, sculpture, prints, photography and mixed media were used to create striking and mature images.Many artworks carried a strong social theme, particularly those dealing with issues important to adolescents including body image, social pressure and the questions many young people deal with: “Who am I?” and “What is normal?”

Upper School

Valentine’s Day

Friendship — and a little bit of love — was in the air in mid-February as students marked Valentine’s Day. It was a chance for younger children to celebrate their friendships in the playground, while in the Middle School, students exchanged “candygrams.”Upper School students could get “married” by a teacher, receiving their marriage certificate and exchanging candy rings. A “BFFs Booth” allowed groups to dress up and take friendship photos. And seniors continued a tradition started just last year when they held the second annual Mr. ASF competition, with six senior boys vying for the title.

Middle School

School bands get into the groove

Four groups from ASF participated in the biennial ASOMEX Arts Festival, which was held at Peterson College in Mexico City on March 6 and 7. The Upper School Jazz Band and IB Theatre group joined the Middle School Drama class and choir on stage

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over the weekend. Students from American schools from across Mexico and Colombia had the chance to not only perform for others, but also to participate in theater, dance, band, choir and drama workshops, as well as watching other schools’ creative endeavors. Earlier in the year, Middle and Upper School bands again united to put on a concert for the community in the Fine Arts Center, wowing parents, faculty and fellow students.

Lower School

The show must go on for grade 4 students

The annual tradition of Lower School operas involves months of preparation, practice, singing and acting. But the effort was all worthwhile for grade 4 students, as well as their families and friends, when they took to the stage at the Fine Arts Center to

Lower School

show off their work. Over three weeks, 12 shows took place — one for each grade 4 class. The operas not only teach vocal, music and acting skills, they are also an important confidence builder for young students.

A day of family fun

Tech-savvy grade 3 students used generously donated tablets to help get creative in an environmental project earlier this year. The tablets — some 200 in total — were donated

by Stephanie, Celine and Randy Nelson back in 2013. First, art students created collages using colored paper and craft materials.

Then they used these collages to tell a story of their choice about the importance of water conservation in Mexico. Using the tablets to take photos, they made a small change to the collage between each photo. Using a special application, the photos could then be played back as a stop-motion movie. The project combined environmental awareness, artistic creativity and technology in a fun way that got the young students to think about how their everyday lives impact the world around them, and how technology can help provide new solutions to existing problems.

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news & events Upper School

ASF dominates in public speaking

Grade 11 student Javier Beltranena will represent Mexico against the rest of the English-speaking world at the International Public Speaking Competition in London, after winning the English Speaking Union’s national championships in March. Javier will be looking to go one better than last year’s representative María Ballesteros, who made ASF proud as runner-up in the same global competition. Javier won the right to represent Mexico with his speech, titled, “To be ignorant of the past is to remain a child,” which Debate Coach Mark Webber called, “One of the best student speeches I have ever heard in this competition.”

Upper School

Repentino. gets recognized abroad

Student art magazine Repentino. made waves well outside of the ASF community this year, receiving awards from the National Council of Teachers of English and Columbia University in the United States. The NCTE gave the magazine an excellence award, the second-highest possible ranking, while Columbia rated it in the gold medalist category among student magazines. The Columbia judge commended Repentino. on its “in your face” style. At a conference in New York this March, Columbia University went one further, giving the magazine a Silver Crown award for its overall look.

Early Childhood Center

Grandparents brighten up the ECC

In an annual tradition bringing together two generations at ASF, grandparents and grandfriends were invited to the ECC to mark Grandparents’ Day on February 10. Children and their grandparents shared food and played games together and some received special tiles marking their relationship, which adorn a wall overlooking the ECC’s Turtle Patio.

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All ASF

Founders’ Day

Every year in February, ASF celebrates the day when in 1922, a group of families laid a cornerstone at ASF’s former site on Insurgentes Avenue. Of course, the school had already been in existence for more than 30 years by then, but the date on that stone, February 22, has become Founders’ Day at ASF. It’s now an annual tradition where ASF honors the memory of its founders by recognizing members of the community who best represent ASF values. Each of the school’s founders lends their name to an award. This year all the Early Childhood Center students were given the Files and Clifton awards, while Upper

School teacher James Kitchin won the Faculty Award and Benjamín Gómez won the Parent Award. The following students were also personally recognized with Founders’ Day awards: Pia Mezher (Wright Award for generosity), Fernando Quintero (Davis Award for risk taking), Elly Sue Glenn (Cummings Award for leadership), Sabrina González (Orrin Award for promoting community), Leni Peterson (Lamm Award for promoting culture) and Sonia Anwar-Ahmed (Cain Award for promoting an appreciation of diversity). Congratulations to them all and thank you for keeping the founders’ spirit alive at ASF.

Upper School

Students show creativity, action and service

Upper School students taking the IB Diploma Programme have spent time outside of class working on a different aspect of learning — self discovery through creativity, action and service.

CAS, as it is known, challenges students to show initiative, demonstrate perseverance and develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. The culmination of this was the CAS fair, held at the Fine Arts Center, where students presented their projects to their teachers and peers. The wide range of projects included learning to play — and to teach — musical instruments, reports of work done at orphanages and schools as a community service project, computer programming and even the establishment of an ASF philosophy club. volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 9

news & events All ASF

Toys bring smiles to young faces

ASF started the year in the spirit of giving with the annual Toy Drive. Families from all of the ASF community generously donated age-appropriate toys to the drive, which were then distributed to children from nearby neighborhoods who otherwise would not receive much. On January 9, around 70 children were invited on campus to receive a toy, and more importantly, spend an afternoon playing with ASF students from the Lower and Middle School. Then on January 16, ASF students met with other children from the Álvaro Obregón area to play games and distribute toys. A total of more than 800 toys were handed out, and the smiles on the faces of those receiving them made for a great reward for the community.

All ASF

Upper School

Students count the cost of a stable world

The annual Model United Nations in March saw the entire Upper School student body take two days off from regular classes to debate, practice diplomacy and vote, just like in the real United Nations, only slightly more civilized. This year’s theme topic was “The Price of Stability.” Students looked into major international issues such as fighting terrorism, addressing global warming, promoting growth and dealing with inequality and disease, debating which were most pressing and what price — not just in terms of finance, but also human sacrifice — was right to pay for a more stable world.

The special guest speaker was Antonio Basagoiti Pastor, a former Spanish politician from Basque country who played an important part in the peace process that led to the disbandment of ETA, the Basque separatist group responsible for terrorist attacks within Spain. Basagoiti Pastor spoke passionately about the need to stand up to those who do not share the democratic principles of freedom of thought, speech, religion and sexual orientation, making particular reference to Islamic State and adding that diplomacy can only go so far when one group will not agree to uphold basic human rights.

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ASF supports Cuajimalpa hospital blast victims

On January 29, a gas explosion at the Cuajimalpa Maternity and Children’s Hospital injured several newborns and their mothers and left many without adequate hospital care. The ASF community responded immediately, calling out for donations. For a week after the explosion, ASF collected diapers, infant formula, water, baby bottles, blankets and baby and maternity wear. The Mexican Red Cross collected some 20 boxes of these goods from ASF and used them to make up care packages, which it delivered in person to each of the mothers affected by the explosion. It was a great example of the ASF community coming together after a tragedy to help others with the support of a professional organization.

Early Childhood Center

ECC students learn how to help

An ambulance from Médica Sur with a pediatrician, two paramedics and a driver pulled up to the ECC one Friday afternoon in March. But don’t worry, no one was hurt; rather, they generously lent their time to show K2 kids a bit about what they do. It was all part of their Primary Years Programme “How can I help you?” unit of inquiry, which also involved

Upper School

a trip to a fire station, a visit from a paleontologist and a talk from a nutritionist. Kids took turns getting their blood pressure tested, sitting on the stretcher, getting loaded into the ambulance, and best of all, listening to the siren. It’s a great hands-on way for kids to learn about society and the different roles people play in it.

Arts students dabble in Mexican culture

Cultural expression is an important aspect of arts students’ Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate portfolios, and Mexico City is a hotbed of artistic culture.

Upper School students from the AP Studio 2-D Design class take advantage of the diversity of artistic styles that can be found around them, making their own version of traditional and contemporary Mexican artworks, including Day of the Dead-themed images, art deco-style tourism posters, lucha libre posters and lotería cards. They’ve even traveled to local markets to capture the life of Mexican street vendors and turn them into unique 2-D images. volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 11

news & events

All ASF

Classical music impresses students and community

Some of Europe’s best classical musicians took time to visit ASF in late January for a free Parent Association concert. The Croix Rousse String Trio — made up of cellist Ewa Miecznikowska, violinst Kazimierz Olechowski and viola player Ignacy Miecznikowski — was joined by guest pianist Jozef Olechowski on stage in the Fine Arts Center. An appreciative crowd made

up of music lovers of all ages was treated to two hours of Schubert, Brahms and Ponce, as the four Polish-born musicians entertained three generations of ASF community members.

Earlier in the day, the four musicians generously donated their time to visit students’ music classes, answering questions and teaching music skills to grateful kids and teachers.

Early Childhood Center

Workshops aid parenting skills

ECC parents were welcomed to ASF in March for a series of workshops designed to help parents to equip their children with the tools to thrive. Classes on setting limits and communication between parents and children were designed to boost parenting skills, while parents also learned from experts about bullying and the stages of socialemotional development their preschool children are going through.

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Great place to study…

Great place to work

FEATURE

I

t’s official — ASF is not just a great place to go to send your kids, or a great place to go to school. It’s also a great place to work.

During a professional development day in March, employees gathered in the Fine Arts Center to celebrate the announcement that ASF had been certified among Mexico’s top employers.

Employees watched a video of their colleagues from all departments — teachers, maintenance workers, bus drivers, administrative staff, leadership — telling why they believed ASF is such a great place to work.

Reasons included friendly coworkers, institutional support, training opportunities, the flexible curriculum, and above all, the ASF community.

And this wasn’t just an in-house paton-the-back exercise. It was the result of a study by the Great Place to Work Institute, an independent surveyor.

The Great Place to Work Institute (GPTW) is a global human resources research and consulting firm that collects data and surveys workplaces to assess employee satisfaction and make recommendations on how the work environment can be improved. Only workplaces that score above 70% on average in independent studies of employee satisfaction are officially called great places to work.

According to Great Place to Work’s Mexico Vice-President Antonio Ono, not many companies gain certification on their first attempt.

Antonio Ono and Olga Prado present ASF Executive Director Paul Williams with Great Place to Work certification.

“I think you are unique as a school with different cultures within the faculty and staff and the mission you have to become one of the best workplaces and provide a high quality education,” he told Focus, shortly after presenting ASF Executive Director Paul Williams with the Great Place to Work certificate in front of employees.

While ASF was privileged to gain GPTW certification on the first attempt, it wasn’t just coincidence. It was the result of years of in-house efforts to provide an excellent work environment for employees.

Ono said it was clear that ASF had been working internally for some time to improve conditions and establish trust between leaders and workers.

“Some organizations have a clear vision of creating a work environment based on the respect of human capital, and they establish core values based around this trust relationship with their employees,” he said.

GPTW rates workplaces in five criteria: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and

camaraderie. These five values are universal, and the result of thousands of interviews. ASF scored particularly high in pride, while credibility and fairness were identified as areas where there is opportunity for improvement.

“Pride (in ASF) is outstanding. It is one of the strengths in your work environment,” Ono said, adding that he believes ASF’s long history of providing quality education in Mexico and its hard-earned reputation as possible reasons employees are proud to work here.

On accepting the certification, Mr. Williams emphasized that ASF is part of a community and functions like a large family.

“One of the good things about being certified by an external process like GPTW is that we need to do certain things to maintain the certification, making concrete steps to improve,” Mr. Williams said, reaffirming his commitment to keep improving the workplace environment.

The challenge for the future is to keep improving the outlook so ASF will continue to always be a Great Place to Work. volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 13

FEATURE

The faces of success

By Andrew Livingstone, Editor-in-Chief

W

hat do a newspaper editor, a clown, a documentary maker, a social worker, a businessman and a student have in common? They’re all outstanding individuals in a diverse range of fields. And they’re all members of the ASF community.

Five ASF alumni – and one future alumnus — took to the stage in the Fine Arts Center in March to joke about their failures, relate their challenges, and most important, inspire positive change in the community.

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ASF Talks was first held last year, but this second time around the event really hit its stride, with alumni from all walks of life coming together to help make the night a success in every possible way.

The Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center lobby and gallery were full of painting, photography and sculpture all created and presented by alumni and a student. Inside the theater, it wasn’t just the speakers who were returning to their old school. Sound and lighting technicians, and even the MC were alumni.

Outside yet more alumni served their brand of food and drink — mezcal, coffee, beer, wine, cupcakes and chocolates.

Even the DJ was a well-known former student. You can read more about some of our alumni and what they are up to starting on page 38.

It’s the speakers, however, that make ASF Talks unique.

According to ASF Alumni Coordinator María José Martínez, limiting the talks to five alumni meant making some difficult choices about whom among the many talented individuals to select.

“The Alumni Council received quite a few submissions and had to choose those who best fit our theme and came from a variety of backgrounds,” she said.

The chosen speakers provided the audience with a palette of widely different pursuits in life, with an interest in the good of humanity as a uniting factor.

And Pascal Beltrán del Río, Saskia Niño de Rivera, Ignacio Madrazo, Mindale López, Julio Salazar and Enrique Goudet impressed with their presentations, focusing on the night’s theme: “Transforming Failure into Success.”

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FEATURE

Ignacio Madrazo Piña

graduated from ASF in the class of ’87.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and semiotics from Brown University in the United States before gaining his master’s in cinema from London Film School.

He has made his name with such documentaries as “La dignidad rebelde de la otra campaña,” about the Zapatista struggle in Chiapas. More recently his documentary about the Maya site of Calakmul in Campeche state played a key role in Calakmul being named a UNESCO World Heritage site, not just for its cultural importance, but also for its natural importance. As a result, the surrounding tropical forest has been awarded greater protection.

These are impressive achievements. But for Ignacio success is a highly subjective measurement, and not something to be found in awards or accolades.

During his talk, he focused on what success means to him.

“I remember spending a week in a Bedouin tent,” he said. “I discovered how to make an Albanian peasant talk to the camera.” For Ignacio, it is these small moments in life when you turn failure into success that count, not the big, measurable achievements.

“Success is a cultural construct that is imposed upon us by a society obsessed with spectale and consumption, with image and income,” he said.

“When you find real life seeping in is when suddenly you realize, wait, success is not where I thought it was.”

Most of all for Ignacio, success is in doing what makes you happy. And while he has travelled the world and forged a successful career, neither achievements nor possessions are the real sources of happiness.

“Culture imposes unhappiness and failure upon us,” he said. “I’ve traveled all over the world and never come across an unhappy child. A child is not unhappy until we teach them that what they have is not good enough.”

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Pascal Beltrán del Río

(’84), keynote speaker, has worked in the media for nearly 30 years, writing for newspapers and magazines as well as broadcasting on radio and television.

Currently editor of the newspaper Excelsior, Pascal started his career working at the weekly news magazine Proceso while studying journalism at UNAM, and has gone on to become one of the most recognized and respected names in Mexican media circles.

But it was at ASF that Pascal first started to pave his career path.

“I think that I found my vocation here at ASF,” he said. “I came from a school with a very rigid system, and what I liked here was the possibility to choose my own classes. That gave me the chance to do what I liked.” What Pascal liked was literature and social sciences, which led him into journalism.

His successes are many and well documented — including twice winning the National Journalism Award, first for his interview with imprisoned members of the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo Insurgente guerilla group in 2004, and again three years later for his interview with former KGB spy Oleg Nechiporenko. He has traveled and reported from the Middle East, Russia and the U.S., and covered many groundbreaking events over the past 20 years, including the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the end of PRI rule in Mexico and the Arab Spring.

He said he has experienced many failures along the way, both in his personal and professional life.

But as a journalist on the front lines of history, Pascal has seen what he calls the evolution of public life, especially in times of transition. That development has played out both in politics and technology.

“For me the experience of chronicling the Mexican political transition was mirrored by the extraordinary technological development of the instruments used to report it,” he said, recalling how he learned to use a typewriter before personal computers became commonplace.

“The evolution has not been free of charge, but rather, a consequence of trial and error — failure and improvement with results that were not always satisfying.”

Pascal said these failures and improvements could be seen in Mexico’s political system, which while still fraught with corruption, has become more democratic since the 1980s.

He said that many young people are incapable of seeing the virtues in Mexico’s democracy, because they didn’t have to live under the authoritarianism of the single-party system that dominated much of the 20th century.

“One of the privileges of my reporter’s life was to witness the dissolution of this form of government,” he said.

“Ours was a democratic transition full of mistakes, but one which never became violent and cost the human lives of others,” he added.

We would be mistaken to overlook what as a society we have accomplished in this field. But much remains to be done.

Both politics and technology are marked by evolution through trial and error, success and failure. And Pascal will continue documenting that evolutionary process in Mexico.

Julio Salazar graduated from ASF in 2003 and studied

marketing at Suffolk University before returning to Mexico to gain a master’s in business innovation and strategic design from Universidad Iberoamericana.

He has since been involved in a number of business start-ups.

Some have proved more successful than others, but all have contributed to making him the perfect example of someone who has learned how to turn failure into success.

Julio didn’t always want to be a business innovator. “I think I accidentally fell into it,” he said. “I never wanted to be an entrepreneur, but all my friends were entrepreneurs, and just from hanging out and talking to them I got into it.”

With a friend, Julio started a real estate venture in Los Cabos. It failed, costing them money and a friendship. The failure was a heavy blow, but Julio took some valuable lessons from the experience.

“Something I learned from my first project was that before you start out you need to have a conversation with your business partners about expectations,” he said. “Clear communication and transparency is important.”

Julio added that making mistakes is a normal part of the risktaking that is starting up a business. The important thing is knowing how to deal with those risks, and knowing when to ask for assistance.

“You have to have the humility to ask for help,” he said. “If you’re honest and transparent, people will help you.”

Those lessons have helped Julio in his career path. He now works advising multinational corporations, businesses and non-government organizations on, defining and implementing strategies and organizational culture.

He has also developed new entrepreneurial that bring likeminded people together to share stories – not of success, but of failure – based on the idea that we learn more from our mistakes than what we get right first time.

Ironically, all those stories of failure have proved a great success.

These events, started by Julio, are now held in more than 50 cities around the world.

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 17

FEATURE

While most students were enjoying a vacation with their families, grade 11 stu(’16) spent his summer taking extra classes dent in the United States.

But these were no regular classes. Enrique took a summer course at Silicon Valley’s Singularity University, a school that aims to educate leaders to use technology to address the great challenges of humanity.

At the university, Enrique learned about new technologies — including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biotechnology and computing — and the potential these industries have to make positive changes.

But for Enrique, the most amazing thing was the people he met there. “What struck me about them was that they genuinely believed they had the potential to improve the world,” he said. “It lit a spark in me and I want to pass it on to as many people as I possibly can.”

Back in Mexico, Enrique was struck by the comfort in which most people in the ASF community live. He said life felt “sedated.” So he set out to pass on the idea that people here can also change the world. He started “Think Different,” a Upper School club for teenagers aimed at creating curiosity and a hunger to try something new — like a younger people’s version of ASF Talks. His goal with Think Different is to bring young people together and share ideas that will light that spark in them too.

The first Think Different talk will take place on April 29.

Enrique’s future is clearly bright. For now, he’s working hard to help those around him take steps to ensure that their own futures will be just as bright.

Enrique Goudet

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Saskia Niño de Rivera

graduated from ASF in 2006 and studied psychology at Universidad Iberoamericana specializing in issues of crime and punishment.

Her young career has seen its fair share of failures, though not her own.

Saskia dedicates herself to helping others turn their failures into success.

During these studies and visits to prisons for research, Saskia has come face to face with what she called “children and teenagers who have failed at life in ways that you can never imagine.”

Most young people in Mexican prisons, she found, came from families where crime was a way of life. Many were encouraged from a young age to commit crimes or become accessories to crimes.

Getting caught, they were imprisoned, where they received no incentive to clean up, and when freed, had no choice but to return to the same environment that forced them into the criminal lifestyle. Minors in Mexico receive a maximum five-year sentence, but have a very high relapse rate.

“Mexico has a failed prison system.

Mexico’s prisons don’t serve to rehabilitate people,” she said. “So it seems absurd to me that we have 254,000 people behind bars, many of whom will be freed. That scares me.”

Frustrated at the lack of rehabilitation, Saskia started “Reinserta un Mexicano,” a non-profit organization

that works with other groups within Mexico’s penitentiary system to help young people re-adapt to life outside of prison without reverting to crime.

Reinserta creates support networks by coaching young offenders and giving them the tools and opportunities that are often denied to those who are branded by society as criminals.

“In spite of what they have done, some of the worst things you can imagine, we have to understand that there is a story behind each person,” Saskia said, adding young people who have committed crimes deserve to be given opportunities in life that more fortunate people are presented with.

And that led to Saskia’s greatest success story — Eder. From a young age Eder was taught by his father to use guns and rob.

Later he was caught and imprisoned, before being released from jail at age 18, and entering the Reinserta program.

Now Eder has completed a high school diploma at Tecnológico de Monterrey with a 9.8 grade point average. He is currently the leader of a project that brings people like him to schools in areas with high-crime rates to give workshops that provide young people with the tools to avoid fa lling into a life of crime. As a person from their neighborhood, Eder can ta lk to kids on their level and relate to their struggles.

In Saskia’s case, taking on some of the greatest failures can lead to the biggest successes. And those success stories, like Eder, are helping others transform their failures into positive futures, changing from being part of the problem, to part of the solution.

Mindale López

entered ASF in the ECC and left after finishing grade 7 when the Mexican peso crisis hit. “When my parents told me I was leaving it was a double-edged sword,” she said. “On one hand I thought ‘how can I leave my friends and school?’ while on the other I was relieved.”

That relief, said Mindale, was due to the bullying she suffered. However, by the time she left ASF, Mindale already knew what she would do with her future – pursue a career in communications. So she studied at Tecnológico de Monterrey, gaining her bachelor’s in communications and began working as a consultant and business instructor.

But it was the other edge of the sword, the bullying, that inf luenced the successes of which she is most proud today.

“I let myself become a victim, and I felt vulnerable,” she said. “Now when I see victims, I can’t ignore them. I have to do something.”

Victims for Mindale include dogs. She made her first dog rescue in 1999, and a few years later, launched a radio show Qué Perro!, dedicated to animal welfare. Qué Perro! is now broadcast around Mexico on GreenTV. Not satisfied with just helping canine victims, she also started Khlan Payaso (Clown Clan), a group that brings happiness and laughter to people in poor health — especially children with terminal illnesses.

“We began with big hearts and little idea of what we were doing,” she said, adding that initial attempts were a failure. “We were all painted up and scared kids. We tried but didn’t get a positive reaction.”

Mindale sought help, paying to train her and her team at how to better cater to their crowd. Her personality and people skills shone through as she later became an instructor herself. Now she leads a group of 140 volunteer ‘clowns’ who are well trained to bring smiles to the faces of those in need.

“Today I direct two altruistic projects,” Mindale said. “What they have in common is protecting and caring for something else, whether that is a dog or a child.”

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 19

Remembering David Ehrenreich, an ASF trustee who made a difference David Ehrenreich, who passed away on January 19 at the age of 83, was an ASF parent who was elected to the Board of Trustees in the 1980s when the school was reeling from the economic crisis hitting Mexico at the time.

His leadership and inspiration contributed greatly to the implementation of new policies and programs that put ASF back on track to becoming the world-class educational institution it is today. Focus asked Diana Anhalt (’59), who served on the Board with David, to help more recent generations in the ASF community understand who he was and what he meant to the school. Here is what she wrote:

D

uring the years that David Ehrenreich was involved in The American School Foundation as a parent, Foundation member, Board member and development director, people referred to him in many different ways: “That man had a heart of gold.” “David defended his opinions with a missionary’s zeal.” “David? Sure, I liked him but, boy, could he be a pain in the neck.” It just depended on whom you spoke to.

He was always on the move, fueled by nervous energy. You could often find him pacing the campus, sometimes with a visitor in tow and — in the days when it was still allowed — leaving cigarette smoke in his wake.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1931, David studied at Amherst and graduated from NYU with a B.A. in Philosophy.

His passion for movies and theater led to his establishing Empresas Latinas, which hired well known Latin American singers and arranged for them to perform in the larger U.S. cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Such work brought him to Mexico. He moved here in the 1970s and married Carolina Jules, an ASF graduate and a school nurse from 1984 to 1989.

During this period he worked with well-known Mexican actors, producing what he referred to as Mexican cowboy movies, filmed in the vicinity of Toluca.

Shortly thereafter, with his partner Bob Lerner, he brought such plays as “Annie” and “Dracula” to Mexico.

According to his wife, David’s involvement with ASF started during the early ’80s when their daughter Sally was in Middle School. “He saw the school as a real opportunity for kids to grow up fully bilingual and multicultural, in a nonsectarian environment,” she said.

But following Mexico’s financial crisis and a drastic devaluation of the Mexican peso, the Board raised tuition and enrollment plummeted. David and 20 | volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015

several others, believing no qualified student should be barred from the school on economic grounds, joined the Foundation.

They were elected to the Board and were able to influence policy.

When he left the Board in 1991, David was appointed development director, a position he held for approximately 10 years.

One parent and former employee of the school said, “My association with David Ehrenreich was brief and not friendly… but David was a big thinker and his dedication brought forth many innovations that have helped make The American School so outstanding today. He was like a dog with a bone pursuing whatever his current goal happened to be and he could wear you out long before he tired!”

As development director, he was one of the leaders in instituting and then raising funds for the Financial Aid Program and for the physical improvement of the school. He tapped the resources of transnational companies that would, in turn, help with capital improvements such as the construction of the new Middle School building and the underground parking lot.

At the same time, with the support of others like Gordon Viberg and Robert Marshall, he was instrumental in taking the initial steps in establishing a teachers’ pension fund.

Perhaps as a result of his work in film and theater, he was determined to build a theater on campus and much of his energy was devoted to making it happen. Although he left the school years before his dream became a reality, he did live to see the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center completed.

One close friend summed it up well when he said, “I don’t think any of us who knew him will ever forget how hard he worked for the school. Knowing David, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he’s up in heaven right now, trying to change things.”

FEATURE

Setting goals, scoring goals American schools from across Mexico converged on ASF to play the beautiful game at the ASOMEX Varsity Soccer tournament in February. Andrew Livingstone joined hundreds of players and supporters to witness the joys of victory and the pain of defeat.

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 21

T

hey came from across the nation, from Tampico in the north and Cancún in the south, from Monterrey and Querétaro and even Puerto Vallarta. The buses pulled into The American School in Mexico City and the students poured out over the synthetic grass of Coach Colman field. The bright white lines of the gridiron were ignored for a few days in favor of the yellow rectangle and flags that marked a return of soccer.

The prize up for grabs was the ASOMEX trophy, fought over by members of the Association of American Schools in Mexico.

The ASOMEX Varsity Soccer Tournament took place from February 5 to 10, pitting a record 17 girls and boys teams from 11 different schools against each other.

A punishing schedule saw games start as early as 8:00 a.m. and finish well into the night, with teams occasionally playing twice on the same day.

The hosts According to ASF Athletics Coordinator Matthew MacInnes, ASOMEX was the culmination of months of planning and preparation, and ASF was well overdue to host the prestigious event.

“We always participate in ASOMEX, but it’s been about 10 or 15 years since we’ve hosted a soccer tournament, so we thought it was our turn,” he said. “Plus, we’ve got two teams who have done very well over the last few years and they’ve both had a good season.”

MacInnes said that while it had been more than a decade between soccer tournaments, the Athletics department could draw on the experience of hosting the ASOMEX basketball tournament in the Wellness Center.

“We started talking to other schools two years ago, and have been working on it all year,” he said. “A lot of work goes into everything, not just the sporting side but also in terms of ceremonies, logistics paperwork, invitations and more.”

And the hard work paid off with 10 boys’ teams and seven girls’ teams registering, an enrollment much higher than in previous tournaments.

From top to bottom: An ASF player takes a shot during the girls final against Querétaro. The Querétaro girls team celebrate receiving their first place trophy. A Querétaro player shoots and scores past the advancing Guadalajara goalkeeper during the boys third place playoff match.

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The games After a short opening ceremony, the tournament got underway on a Thursday evening with the host teams both getting off to a perfect start; the boys winning 3-1 against Cancún and the girls putting two unanswered goals past Guadalajara.

Friday’s 10 games didn’t involve either ASF team but the rest day didn’t prove helpful — both teams recording single-goal losses on the Saturday. So Sunday was a day of must-win games for both teams.

The boys played first up and cruised past Puebla 3-0, while the girls scraped Monterrey 3-2 in their semifinal. The boys played Torreón later that day, with the last semifinal spot up for grabs. Needing only a draw to progress, Torreón sat back and despite a valiant effort, ASF could not find the goal that would see them through. Winning the penalty shootout after a scoreless draw and finishing just one point below Torreón was little consolation.

Monday saw the boys play off for fifth place against Tampico, having just witnessed Torreón again draw 0-0, and progress after winning a penalty shootout. Yet again both teams struggled to find the net and the game finished with no goals scored, but it was Tampico that won on penalties to take the consolation fifth spot.

Nevertheless, Boys Varsity Coach Luis Colo was happy with his team’s display. “I’m very proud of the team,” he said. “It’s

The ASF girls team pose with their second place trophy.

great to be champions, but I wouldn’t change my boys for anything and it’s an honor to be their coach.”

He added that the boys’ team had enjoyed playing in front of a parochial crowd. “It’s great to be playing at home,” he said. “It’s exciting to see your home support. If you can manage your emotions it’s a beautiful experience.” Torreón captain David Esparza was ecstatic with his team’s victory and the tournament in general.

“The referees and everything have been very good,” he said. “I think we’ve learned a lot from game to game and as a team, we’re much better now.”

There can only be one winner Tuesday’s final day saw Querétaro edge Guadalajara 2-1 in an exciting third place playoff boys’ match, before Torreón — just one kick in a penalty shootout better than ASF — beat Monterrey 1-0 in a tense final to take the trophy. Fate can be cruel; for one saved penalty it may have been the home side.

While the American schools from Torreón and Monterrey battled for the boys trophy, a nervous ASF girls team met in a small room in the Wellness Center to hear some final words from Varsity Girls Coach Richard Shields. Two words were written on the whiteboard: “History” and “Today.”

“You write the history of today,” Coach Shields told them.

“Win or lose, the result will be written in history.”

After alternative years of tournament wins, this was the girls’ chance to finally retain the trophy.

“You could be back-to-back champions for the first time,” Coach Shields said. “It’s down to you.”

“If it’s not good enough, at the end we raise our hands and we congratulate the other team,” he added. “But we do not leave that field with any regrets. You play to your capacity. You give everything.”

And they did. But in the end, everything was not enough. A goal in each half for saw the hosts and defending champions finish runners-up, beaten by the same Querétaro side that had edged them 2-1 in the group stage.

For many of the girls, it was their first time in an ASOMEX final, and the loss hurt. Six of the last season’s starting 11 had graduated in 2014 and ASF fielded a young team with an grade 8

student and several grade 9 girls, which bodes well for the future of girls soccer.

“This year we’ve got a lot of younger girls,” Coach Shields said. “It really is a tribute to the soccer program at the school, the amount of younger girls coming through pushing for a place in the team.”

Querétaro girls team Coach Fernando Soria had also prepared his team to make history.

“Since last September we have been working towards this tournament,” he said, adding that winning is great but he also saw great value in the social aspect of ASOMEX. “The other goal is to socialize, to get to know other schools and how they function. And the organization [of the tournament] has been great, I hope you can have it here again next year.”

At the closing ceremony Upper School Head Amy Gallie thanked the supporters for their positive encouragement, noting especially the vocal traveling support from Querétaro, who rivaled the hosts in volume during the varsity girls final.

After the first, second, and third place medals were handed out came the sportsmanship trophy; a tradition acknowledging the team that best exemplifies the spirit of ASOMEX and of the beautiful game. The American schools of Tampico and Monterrey took home the sportsmanship awards, respectively.

The final results ASOMEX Boys First place: Colegio Americano de Torreón Second place: The American School Foundation of Monterrey Third place: The American School of Querétaro ‘JFK’ Sportsmanship trophy: Escuela Americana de Tampico ASOMEX Girls First place: The American School of Querétaro ‘JFK’ Second place: The American School Foundation Third place: Fundación Colegio Americano de Puebla Sportsmanship trophy: The American School Foundation of Monterrey volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 23

FEATURE

You play with head and heart, not feet On the eve of the most important tournament of the school year for the ASF’s top boys and girls soccer teams, players were treated to an inspirational talk from one man who knows more than most about motivating young people. Andrew Livingstone was there to hear it.

J

esús “Chucho” Ramírez was the coach of the only Mexican soccer team to win an age-group World Cup — and he did it with a players about the same age as current ASF students. Some of them — Carlos Vela, Giovanni dos Santos — have gone on to become household names. It was coach Ramírez’s dedication and faith in those young athletes that launched their sporting careers.

Chucho has always emphasized the mental side of the game, not only in understanding the sport, but also in preparing for it. He told ASF students that you can’t win anything unless you truly believe it is possible.

“I had a group of young people like you, and they had never achieved anything … and (winning the World Cup) was something they never seriously considered,” he said.

Footage of a young team, soon to be Mexico’s new national heroes — but at the time just kids joking around in the gym and changing rooms — inspired ASF’s soccer players to understand that they were just like them.

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But belief, of course, is not enough. Once mental hurdles are overcome, players must develop a passion for the game, and a desire to win. That means preparation. “Everything depends on your commitment,” Coach Ramírez said.

Commitment and preparation mean training. Lots of training.

“We decided to be number one,” Chucho told ASF soccer players of his Mexico under-17 charges, “but it’s one thing to have talent, and another thing to use it effectively.”

For Coach Ramírez, using time effectively meant getting the players together to work on their skills and overall fitness.

In an hour-long video presentation, he showed his young Mexican team running on the beach, working out in the gym and repeating grueling drills. He told of how some initially complained of the long distances they ran and the time spent in triple training sessions.

That work was relentless, and lasted a long time. But it paid off for Mexico’s under-17 team of 2005, and Coach Ramírez told students it would pay off for them at ASOMEX.

The under-17 national team learned that when you have superior fitness levels, it’s easier to score goals against a tired opposition late in a game or in extra time. His team drew on that extra fitness in its extra-time quarterfinal victory against Costa Rica.

And as Chucho’s presentation drew to a close with footage of Mexico’s convincing wins over The Netherlands and Brazil, students smiled as they relived goals scored by their heroes 10 years ago. There’s nothing that inspires more than watching a winning team.

But Coach Ramírez repeated the same mantra over and over again: the most important thing was getting the team to believe that they could compete with the Germans and Brazilians in a

world cup; that they had the potential to be as good — better, in fact — than the traditional soccer powerhouses; and that creating the mindset that a lofty goal was achievable was what gave the players motivation to do the work that ultimately led to their triumph on the world stage. And it would be the same for ASF. Creating a positive mindset in the knowledge that they could and can be as good or better than their opposition is the key.

Coach Ramírez finished by telling students that their actions up to now will have in large part decided their fate in the competition. Winning teams prepare in advance and by the time they get to the tournament have done all the work to make sure they have maximized their potential as athletes.

Advice from the master coach On coaching adolescents vs adults: “Both have a grade of difficulty. Both have to get to a point of being convinced.

Maybe with adolescents the challenge is their lack of concentration and not knowing what they want, so they need to be made to focus. Mentality has no age; it’s for anyone.”

On sports as a way out poverty: “It’s about getting to the point of saying ‘I want to have a better quality of life,’ but you have to work to make it happen. If you don’t, you will continue on as always. The first step is understanding that you want to change your situation. The next is executing a plan to bring about the change.”

On soccer at ASF: “I believe ASF has all the facilities and personnel. Having better tools and knowing how to use them allows you to work better and more effectively. However, you can have the best field, gymnasium and everything, but if your mind is not there to really be productive, you won’t succeed.”

On overcoming negative attitudes: “Sometimes we wait for things… miracles. Or we just accept things how they are. But successful people are those who know that things can change. Many people laughed when I said I would win the World Cup with Mexico. They are used to accepting less than the best. I wanted to change things but people said, ‘That’s how things are here.’ I told them ‘Not for me. That’s how things were, but I’m going to change them.’” volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 25

FEATURE

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Going places ASF teacher Jason Schell is a professional painter whose work has been displayed in a number of Mexico City venues. His quest is to render his adopted city as authentically as possible. So he hopped on the Metro.

Then he turned on the meter.

By Kelly Arthur Garrett, ASF Parent

W

hat’s this? An ASF teacher moonlighting as a cabbie? Is there something going on in Tacubaya we don’t know about?

There is, but it’s not what you’re thinking.

Jason Schell teaches art at The American School Foundation, and has been for going on eight years now. He teaches beginning art classes, graphic design, commercial art, architectural drawing, AP art. He’s experienced, popular, respected and very busy.

But he’s also a practicing artist, as many art teachers are. And artists, as we know, will do whatever it takes to fulfill their calling. If that means securing a taxi license and hacking your way through the Mexico City streets, so be it.

His cabbie gig was for a few weeks in 2013, the passenger total not much over 200. During that time, he convinced about half of his fares — 108 to be precise — to let him take their photograph. And with those clicks of the camera, public transport morphed into the creation of a work of art.

Over the last two years, Jason — Mr. Schell to his students and colleagues, but we’ll stick with Jason here — has been converting 100 of those shots into painted portraits. Those portraits, in turn, fit together to form an integrated work of mural proportions, suggested, in part,

by Diego Rivera’s epic “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.”

Both murals are hyper-populated, but Rivera’s work (which you can see in a space on the corner of Balderas and Colón, near Metro Hidalgo) uses historical figures and is peppered with political commentary. Schell’s mural, on the other hand, features everyday people whose only role is to be themselves.

“I wanted to paint what I consider to be perhaps the most authentic rendering of a city that an artist can do,” Jason says.

Hence the taxi. What could be more representative of place than random passengers, especially in a city where taxi travel is common and reasonably priced? If he’d recruited his subjects, there would be an inescapable artificiality behind what the eye sees. Instead, they materialized by chance according to the natural rhythms of Mexico City life.

So there’s authenticity in the who (random fares) but also in the when — that is, during a specific, limited cab ride.

“It’s like a time stamp,” Jason says. “Art can record specific moments in time, and that’s something I thought about as I was doing this piece.”

The where may be even more defining.

“It’s also about shared space,” he points out. “The back seat of a Nissan Tsuru is not that big. I measured it once and it was like 120 centimeters by 50. The finished mural is going to be about 13 meters long and at least three meters high. And everybody in that mural was sharing the same, singular back-seat space.”

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JASON THE TEACHER Jason Schell came to ASF from his native Pennsylvania, via the state of Washington, under circumstances familiar to many foreign hires. He was young, unencumbered, highly qualified (including having taught AP and IB art in the Seattle area) and ready for an energizing career change.

“I was kind of operating on automatic pilot,” he recalls.

He was attracted by the challenge of teaching at a first-rate international school.

And he felt the allure of Mexico City.

Both the school and the city exceeded his expectations.

“ASF has been an awesome experience,” he says. “The art department was excellent before the recent remodel and even more so now. And the facilities are really great.”

Now, here’s some insight into how art teachers see their work: The fact that he teaches so many different kinds of classes is a solid plus in Jason’s mind.

“I like that I’m teaching two or three different subjects each day,” he says. “It keeps things interesting. If it were all drawing and painting, it could get redundant.”

Architectural drawing, for example, helps him instill in his students one of his pet passions — know your city and the art sources in it.

“Learning architectural theory in class helps them enjoy Mexico City more,” he says. “They start to think about the buildings they’re in, the styles they see. That’s how I treat the class.”

28 | volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015

Then there’s the commercial arts program, which he lobbied for and helped to implement. The real-world skills it imparts are invaluable, he thinks.

“The art is your own, the creativity is yours,” he says. “But conceptually, you’re making art for clients.”

The diversity of teaching art at ASF is vertical as well as horizontal. One hour you’re overseeing beginners who may never take another art class as long as they live. The next you’re helping art majors who are already planning their careers.

“Obviously the advanced classes are fun to teach because the kids are so talented and they’re not there just to have a blowoff class,” Jason says.

“But in the beginning classes, you really get to see growth, which is the best reward for any teacher. You see where they start and where they end up, and there’s real progress there.” And guess where that progress is especially pronounced? Did you say graphic design?

“I see even more growth when the kids have computers for tools,” he says. “It’s something they’re more comfortable with than, say, a paint brush. It’s amazing what you can get kids to accomplish in graphic design classes.”

JASON THE ARTIST It took about a year of teaching at ASF before the art bug re-bit Mr. Schell. He converted part of his apartment into a studio and got back to work. In the States, he had settled into sculpture, but now in Mexico City he was all painting and drawing.

“I’m extremely fortunate to be able to work as an art teacher and make art as well,” he says. “It’s cool to live as an artist in real time. It’s not something I take for granted.”

The question that comes to mind is how he has the time.

“Artists find time,” he shrugs. “The New York lifestyle is to wait tables at night and paint in the day. I’m the other way around — I’m done at school around three and paint the rest of the afternoon.”

It’s worked out. Jason’s shown his art at more than a dozen venues since 2008, mostly in Mexico City, but also in Guadalajara, the pyramid town of Cholula in the state of Puebla and the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo.

Two of his murals were selected for permanent installation in the Mexico City Metro system. One, called “The Three Workers,” adorns a wall in the Salto de Agua station at the edge of the Historic Center. Another, the first, is in the Viveros station in Coyoacán. The latter holds special significance.

Like so much of Jason’s recent work, “A Sunday Afternoon Under Mexico City” is transportation-themed. Mr. Schell, you might say, is an artist who’s going places.

It consists of scenes of subway riders, based on photographs Jason took while riding the rails.

“The Viveros mural is a documentary of a single day on a line of the Metro,” he says. “So there’s the whole thing again with time constraint.”

It was an honor, of course, to be chosen for a Metro mural, especially for

a foreign-born artist. And the wall it’s mounted on, Jason points out, is perfect for the mural. He’s also noticed another, more unexpected synchronicity attached to the mural’s permanent home.

“If you look at a satellite view of the Coyoacán area and you draw a straight line from Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul to the place she shared with Diego Rivera in San Ángel (Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo), it runs right over the Viveros Metro station,” he says. “I can’t believe that nobody had thought of the historical significance of this location before. It was shocking to me that I got there first.”

That confluence of art and geography sowed the seed of the taxi project.

“It got me to think harder about cities and portraiture and location,” Jason says.

“It inspired me to really challenge myself to find a way to render Mexico City as authentically as possible.”

He realized eventually that to do so would require a functioning taxi cab. He would have to enter unknown territory.

“Mexico City is the first place in my life where I’ve even regularly taken taxis, let alone driven one,” he says.

JASON THE CABBIE His motive for driving a taxi may have been to take pictures to paint portraits from, but his first responsibility was to get people where they wanted to go. That turned out to be reasonably easy.

“I know the basic areas fairly well,” he says. “And people who live outside of them know how to get where they’re going.

Jason Schell’s mural in the Viveros Metro station depicts regular people commuting on the subway.

People are pretty accustomed to giving directions. Plus I’d use GPS.” As a neophyte cabbie, he learned two things immediately. One is that hacking in Mexico City is not a lucrative pursuit.

“It helped me sympathize with taxi drivers,” he says. “I know exactly how much they make. Even after a raise in rates, it’s nothing.”

The other is that foreign-born taxi drivers are about as rare in Mexico City as they are common in U.S. cities. Who knows? Maybe Jason was the first. “I wonder if any other American has ever got a taxi license in Mexico City,” he says.

Being American turned out to be a priceless advantage. A foreigner in Mexico City is intrinsically interesting to many people, especially if he’s doing something that foreigners are never seen doing. That helps start the friendly conversation that’s

prerequisite to asking for a photo waiver.

“If I’d been a typical Mexican driver I don’t think anybody would have wanted to be photographed,” Jason says. “But with me, the situation was already so unusual that they were willing to suspend disbelief and just go with my story.”

Jason’s down to the final stages of the taxi project mural. The next challenge is settling on a venue to display it. “It’s going to need a pretty big space,” he says. “I can’t think of any galleries that I’ve shown in that could handle it.”

In the meantime, we can get to the question on everybody’s mind. How’d the cabbie business go for Jason Schell? Did he make any money?

“I didn’t even break even,” he answers.

“I think if I drove a taxi long enough I could turn a profit. But I like teaching at The American School much better.”

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 29

FEATURE

Making learning sweeter Originally part of a grade 6 camp activity, the Mazahua Tianguis has become one of the Middle School’s most iconic activities, bringing together several disciplines into one educational, artistic and altruistic project

By Andrew Livingstone, Editor-in-Chief

I

t looks from the outside like a regular Wednesday of classes, but inside, the Middle School building is abuzz with activity. Students, many dressed in yellow with black stripes, shout from their stalls as they compete with each other to sell honey, sweets and a range of bee-related products.

While it seems like no more than a fun exercise for students, it’s actually the culmination of more than a month of interdisciplinary work for grade 6 students, combining academics, community service and entrepreneurship.

The tianguis was a chance for students to sell their own bee products and make an impressive donation to a local indigenous community. But perhaps most important, it was also a chance to drive their own learning by deciding what and how to research, create, market and sell.

The Mazahua Tianguis was the brainchild of ASF’s grade 6 teachers. It started with a simple idea in math class — that students design a business plan using bee products, and then execute that plan. It forced students to use real-life applications of mathematical and economic concepts, including graphing, profit margins, economies of scale and many other calculations.

But teachers saw the opportunity for a more interdisciplinary approach. So they teamed up with social studies, science, world languages and other subjects to make the Mazahua Tianguis a largerscale project as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme.

And it has worked spectacularly. Outside evaluators specifically commended the Mazahua Tianguis project as one of the best examples of IB-style education in action, praising grade 6 staff for developing a project that encourages students to take the lead in educating themselves and for integrating different classroom subjects into one comprehensive piece of work.

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To begin, students chose a bee-related project to research, and presented work educating their peers on a variety of subjects, including the history of human interaction with bees and use of bee products — which dates back from before civilization itself right up to new innovations in health and beauty products derived from propolis and honey.

Also significantly, teachers and administrators injected some real life experience into the project at the students’ annual camp to Pipiol. During the camp, students visited an indigenous Mazahua community, where they learned about the Mazahua way of life in modern Mexico.

They also visited a nearby apiary, where they donned protective gear and saw first hand how honey and other bee products are produced.

Later, they put their knowledge and experience to the test in executing their bee-related business plan at the Mazahua Tianguis. Students were in control of every phase of their business, working in groups of two or three to decide what product to produce, how to produce it, how to price it, as well as setting profit goals. Math classes were used to produce graphs and calculations on how to best run this mini-business.

Sweets were by far the most popular products as they were the easiest to make — and easiest to sell. But other innovative students made soaps and even beeswax candles. Students, teachers and parents stopped in to browse and buy, and at the end of the tianguis, most of the product had been sold.

After a lunchtime of bargaining and selling came to an end, the students counted their funds and worked out their profits. All money raised was pooled into a total of 42,000 pesos, a significant improvement on past years’ efforts and a pleasant surprise for all involved.

These funds were split into two equal donations. One was given to the school’s Annual Fund, which is used to provide

financial aid for students who would otherwise not be able to afford an education at ASF, and the other half has been donated to help support the Mazahua community.

The success of the Mazahua Tianguis project is the result of a dedicated group of teachers pooling resources and combining different subjects into one integrated, interdisciplinary project. Students reacted positively to the all-around nature of the project, finding innovative ways to approach the challenge and taking control of their own education.

Next year, the leaders of the Mazahua Tianguis project intend to go even further, raising more funding for financial aid and the local indigenous community.

Outside evaluators specifically commended the Mazahua Tianguis project as one of the best examples of IB-style education in action.

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 31

FEATURE

This time it’s personal The Personal Project Fair is an inspiring display of the value of an ASF education, in which tenth graders share the work they’re passionate about

By Kelly Arthur Garrett, ASF Parent

M

ake a note for next February or thereabouts: The annual Personal Project Fair featuring ASF tenth graders is a joy to attend. Doesn’t matter if no child of yours is part of it. Doesn’t matter if you’re an alum from before ASF’s PP days. Doesn’t even matter if you have no idea what a Personal Project is. You’ll love it.

Why? Well, for one thing, few on-campus gatherings offer clearer confirmation of: a) The creativity and energy of ASF students, b) the depth of an ASF education, and c) the rewards of the International Baccalaureate’s inquiry-based approach to learning.

It’s here at the fair that 160 or so Upper School sophomores display and explain the project each has been working on since the beginning of the fall semester — some since well before that. For this year’s edition, which took place on February 5, the campus Fine Arts Center was humming for about two hours in the middle of the school day as parents, teachers, staffers, alums and younger students made the rounds, observing the displays, asking questions and listening to the answers.

The listening makes the experience. It takes about 20 seconds to realize the tenth graders aren’t mouthing platitudes or regurgitating classroom learning. They’re speaking knowledgeably and enthusiastically about a topic they’re passionate about.

Which is the whole idea of the Personal Project.

“The word ‘personal’ is meant quite seriously,” said Bret Sikkink, the Upper School economics teacher who’s coordinating the project this year, as he surveyed his charges setting up their display tables.

“The topic generates from the student. It isn’t just another assignment or some kind of chore. It’s your personal project, something cool that you get to do.”

Roberta Pérez and Ana Paula Gallardo, for example, care about the plight of homeless dogs, so they teamed up for a personal project that included volunteering at an animal shelter and adoption facility. Much of their research, therefore, was first hand.

“There are about 1,800 dogs waiting for homes in that particular shelter,” Roberta told visitors to their booth just outside the FAC. “They all have to be sterilized and fed. They eat a lot.”

One aspect of their project was to fundraise for the shelter. Another was to promote pet adoption (rather than getting animals bred for purchase). They made a video of their efforts. “We also helped them make a Facebook page so they can do more promotion,” Roberta added.

LEARNING HOW TO THINK The Personal Project is a requirement for tenth graders finishing their time in the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme, or MYP, which governs The American School Foundation’s 32 | volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015

“It’s more important to know how to think than what to think.” bret sikkink

curriculum from the sixth grade through the tenth grade.

Its purpose is multifold, but it basically allows the student to (in IB jargon) “participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry within a global context” and, among other things, “generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth investigation.”

Bret Sikkink puts it this way: “It’s based on the general idea that it’s more important to know how to think than what to think. By the end of the MYP period they should know how to use what they’ve learned over the past five years to develop their own interests. They should be able to use the skills they acquire through an inquiry-based education to tackle their own extracurricular project.”

That key concept of “inquiry” certainly applies to Nicole Grossman’s project, which explored what she thinks is a common tendency to pre-judge others based on superficialities.

“Appearance in general, and how people judge people by it, has always interested me,” she said by way of introducing her work.

“I want to study psychology.”

So she went to a local Starbucks, where she would ask a person in line if she could borrow their cellphone for a quick call.

The unwitting subject would happily comply. Then, by prearrangement, the valet parking employee would come in and make the same request. Refused.

This happened repeatedly, and the results were similar with other experiments Nicole designed. Her conclusion is that

people are often judged on surface factors such as gender, skin color, clothes and perceived social class, without knowing, as it has been memorably put, the content of their character. She had suspected that in advance, of course, but she had now, in those same IB words, developed a deeper understanding through indepth investigation. And she had it on video.

“My big conclusion,” Nicole said, “is that judging people by their appearance doesn’t define who they are. It defines who you are.”

BRINGING YOUR PASSION TO SCHOOL The guests of honor at the Personal Project Fair were the ninth graders, who got a preview of their upcoming task and were volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 33

already starting to think about the topic they’d choose. That’s not always as easy as it sounds.

“I give them a thought experiment,” Mr. Sikkink said. “Like, what if you thought you were going to a wedding, but it got canceled and you had an entire afternoon free? What would you do with that time? Presumably, it will be something you love. Well, bring it to school. Let’s see you take your passion for that topic and apply it in a more academic direction.”

The cynical among us might fear the imagined afternoon would be spent on leisure activity, like hours of video games. But Mr. Sikkink is happy to report that that’s not the case.

“They’re very good about choosing project topics that are relevant,” he said. “I don’t get a lot of frivolous proposals.”

For the record, at least one project exhibited at the fair was in fact video game-related, though far from frivolous. Adrián Keenan, a tech buff, had been working since summer on a game engine for game development and 3D programming. So there he was at his table at the fair, with a tech demo on his laptop that probably only a handful of people on campus could understand.

“I figured if I made it confusing enough, everybody would think I did a really good job and I’d get a hundred,” Adrián smiled. (Note to Mr. Sikkink: He’s joking.)

ONE STEP AT A TIME The Personal Project is at least as much about process as product. It can be argued, in fact, that its principal learning value is not so much additional knowledge of the chosen topic as the experience of conceiving, planning, researching and producing a long-term undertaking. Which is why one of Mr. Sikkink’s duties as coordinator is connecting each tenth grader to a supervisor, mostly an Upper School or Middle School teacher, to guide her or him through the endeavor.

“Most functioning adults in the ASF community have attended college or otherwise completed some kind of long-term research project that kept our interest on a particular thing for more than a few months,” he said. “Tenth graders as a rule have not.”

So, despite their freedom to build as they please, the students are provided with a lot of scaffolding.

“They start to learn the skill of scheduling,” Mr. Sikkink said, “of tackling a project one step at a time, of setting goals that aren’t too hard but not too soft either. The Goldilocks rule.”

Along the way, the students learn to resolve questions they probably hadn’t thought of. Like, how do I measure my success?

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Which is another way of asking, how do I know when I’m done with this thing?

That’s an especially important question to answer for those projects drawn from a student’s ongoing involvement in community service. A case in point is Alec Seidman, who volunteers at a home for orphans and other children escaping abuse. He has no plans to put an end to his assistance; on the contrary, he’s exploring plans for bringing better education to the kids in the home. But there did have to be an end to his Personal Project by February.

So he taught himself how to craft inexpensive jewelry — bracelets and the like — and then started a program to teach the orphans to do the same. “I did this not only so they could sell their work for a little bit of money for them,” Alec said, “but also to expand their imaginations and give them a hobby.”

For Mark Rimond, who only transferred to ASF at the beginning of the 2015 calendar year, the end product was clear from the outset. “At my old school in Querétaro I had Model United Nations, and through MUN I discovered my passion for human rights, specifically children’s rights,” he said at the fair. “People feel child rights are important, but if you ask them to name those rights, they are unable to. Maybe one or two max.”

Through research and interviewing, Mark concluded that the reason for that is people are rarely exposed to information about children’s rights. But he found one unexpected place that examples of child rights can be easily found. “There exists a direct parallel between fairy tales and child rights,” he said. “In fairy tales, you can always find children’s rights being broken.”

He reached for an illustration — the work of a friend and collaborator — of the Rapunzel story. “Here’s a girl who’s locked up in a tower,” he said. “One right of children is the right to develop freely.”

So Mark went to work retelling a number of the tales with an emphasis on child rights. The result is an illustrated book that fair visitors could review online, and will be available in printed form. Mark also plans to take the book to UNICEF for possible mass publishing.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONVERSATION “This is the easy part for me,” Bret Sikkink said, waving his hand at the bustling FAC floor and the crowded exhibit tables.

He was referring to the fair. “I just have to make sure the space is available. The students do the rest. It’s self-assembling.”

Facing page, left: Roberta Pérez and Ana Paula Gallardo volunteered at an animal shelter and brought back a message: Adopt your next pet, don’t buy it. Right: Upper School economics teacher Bret Sikkink coordinates the Personal Project, which involves more than 160 tenth graders. This page: Nicole Grossman (upper left), who wants to study psychology after graduation, explored the human tendency to judge people by their appearance.

Mark Rimond (upper right) found a way to combine his support of children’s rights and an illustrated book of fairy tales. Alec Seidman (middle right) has been helping out at a home for orphans and abused children. For his Personal Project he taught the kids how to craft inexpensive jewelry to sell. The photo above is a still from the film “In Memory Of,” in which producers Robin Garrett (at the left of the photo) and Diego Hauser (center) appear in a scene. Guest student actor José Pablo Ríos is seen at the right of the still. The girl in the poster (bottom right) is Isabel Contreras, who also has an acting role in the movie.

It was probably the easiest part for the students as well. The bulk of the Personal Project challenge is in the planning, research and development. The fair itself is a chance to share their passion, and get some much-needed positive feedback after months of hard and often lonely work.

The project grade is mostly based on the report the students turned in well after the fair, and not on the presentation itself. That makes sense, since the project is not about showtime. Many of the best efforts aren’t conducive to visual displays.

Many others are, however. For instance, Diego Hauser and Robin Garrett wrote, directed, produced and acted in a 12-minute movie about a school bullying victim. They also recruited fellow students and several faculty members to join the cast. So visitors to their table could sit down, put on the earphones (it was noisy that day in the FAC, for obvious reasons) and enjoy a movie. They had to bring their own popcorn, though.

But the true reward for the fair visitor is in the conversation. There is no more salutary antidote to the pessimism wrought by today’s headlines than listening to an enthusiastic teenager explain what she or he is passionate about and the work that passion inspired. The future of the planet looks rosier when you do.

Keep that in mind when you attend next year. volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 35

Student Voices

Why I think marijuana should not be legalized

By Ana Lucero Villaseñor, ASF Senior

he legal status of marijuana has been a controversial issue since the discovery of the drug and its effects. It has been tested multiple times to see whether the legalization of this drug would have a positive or negative impact on our society.

Every day more people seem to be in favor of legalizing marijuana, because they think that it can shape society in a positive way. But I believe that those people should look at the picture from a different perspective.

It’s true that marijuana can be a helpful medicine. It’s true that it gives people a sense of calmness. It’s true that alcohol, tobacco and some other drugs are more harmful than marijuana. And it’s true that if the government taxes marijuana it will improve the economy of the country.

But even though all of these facts make a strong pro-marijuana argument, we should pay more attention to the facts that warn us against legalizing it.

First, marijuana has been considered an unhealthy substance because it can cause memory impairment, disorientation, lack of physical coordination, cancer, depression, rapid heart beat, panic attacks and anxiety. Marijuana should be illegal because it is the state’s job to protect the health of citizens instead of exposing them to risk.

According to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana use can lead to addiction, making it almost impossible for the consumer to stop using the drug. Marijuana is considered a soft drug and even though addiction to marijuana is not as common as it is with other drugs, it paves the way for a consumer to try harder, more damaging drugs.

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If marijuana is legalized, people will have easy availability to purchase the drug and more people will start to use it. If the government legalizes marijuana, it won’t be able to control its use.

These same problems are happening today with alcohol abuse in Mexico, where it’s simple for underage teenagers to gain access to alcohol and get drunk. If marijuana is legalized, children under 18 would most likely have access to it. Furthermore, more parents would use the drug, setting a really bad example for younger kids.

The cons outweigh the pros, but there are certain arguments in favor of legalization that we can’t ignore. For one, legalized marijuana would reduce drug trafficking in the country and make organized crime less powerful than it is. Drug trafficking has been a terrible problem that has cost many lives and increased crime in the country.

Another benefit is the medical uses marijuana has. It has been shown to improve certain patients’ health and relieve their pain.

The benefits that these people would receive are important.

But the government needs to look out for all of us. I believe that marijuana causes more problems than it solves. It should not be legalized.

“Student Voices” is a space for Upper School or Middle School students to comment on current issues of interest to the ASF community, using essay or opinion piece formats.

This issue’s essayist, Ana Lucero Villaseñor (’15), is a senior who was born in Mexico City. She will soon be moving on to study architecture at UNAM. “I decided to talk about the issue of legalizing marijuana because it’s a well-known subject,” she says. “I believe people should more carefully consider the consequences of legalizing it.”

institutional advancement

Clockwise from upper left: Alex Woroszylski (’84) tells about the rewards of ASF more than 30 years after he graduated. Nicolás Mariñelarena (’04) converted his ASF education into a career in music. Ana Fernanda Contreras, a grade 8 ASF student, spoke about the joys of her ASF education. For everybody who had a wonderful time at the Spring Cocktail Party, here’s whom to thank — the ASF Institutional Advancement team that organized the event.

At ASF’s Spring Cocktail Party, appreciation and generosity were the orders of the evening

A

SF parents had a wonderful opportunity to meet and chat with school leaders, trustees, alumni and volunteers — and each other — at the ASF Spring Cocktail Party on Thursday, March 5.

More than 200 ASF community members enjoyed delicious hors d’euvres, fine wine and pleasant conversation at the beautiful and renowned restaurant Au Pied de Cochon, which generously donated its space and service.

“It was great to see so many new families bonding and integrating into the community,” said Paloma Fuentes, a member of the ASF Institutional Advancement team that organized the event.

It was an especially valuable evening for new parents, who got to hear informal talks about ASF’s mission and philosophy by Board of Trustees Chair Rosa Marentes de Pisinger and Executive Director Paul Williams.

They also got a taste of the joys of volunteerism from Blanca Santa Cruz of the Parent Association, who told her fellow moms and dads to much applause, “I never had the opportunity for an ASF education. But I have the opportunity to have five daughters at ASF in the Lower School, Middle School and Upper School. So I know a little something about the school.”

Bringing the message home were talks from two alumni a generation apart — Nicolás Mariñelarena (‘04) and Alex Woroszylski (‘84), who talked about the role their ASF education played in their subsequent success.

“We are grateful to Nicolás and Alex who graciously agreed to participate in the program, sharing with all of us how important ASF has been in their lives,” said Alejandra Naranjo, director of Institutional Advancement.

The most admired speaker of the evening was surely Ana Fernanda Contreras, a 14-year-old Middle School student who spoke with grace and assurance about the benefits she feels she’s receiving at ASF. Ana is a scholarship student, able to continue her ASF

education with the help of financial aid from the Annual Fund.

Ana’s appearance fit the theme of the evening, which centered on the financial aid program, funded entirely from contributions by individuals and organizations, and fundraising events carried out by volunteers.

Many may have become aware for the first time that the school has set a goal of raising the percentage of students receiving financial aid from the current 12-13% to 20% over a 15-year period.

This is a phenomenally ambitious undertaking. When reached, it will mean that hundreds more students whose families might otherwise not be able to afford an ASF education will be able to study here.

Everybody benefits from the financial aid program — the recipients themselves, the student body as a whole through enhanced diversity and the community at large.

Funding a financial aid program through volunteer donations reflects the values of The American School Foundation. A community that helps itself grow and become more inclusive is a community marked by generosity, volunteerism and true spirit.

One message the parents heard often throughout the evening was that donations of any size, no matter how small, are welcome and appreciated. The message must have hit home, because by the end of the evening most of the 200 or so gathered were pushing bills and coins into little piggy banks passed out for that purpose.

Many later filled out pledge cards for the Annual Fund Campaign. This is a convenient way to donate any amount by authorizing ASF to charge your credit card a certain amount per month, per year or one-time.

If you are interested in donating, the IA office will be happy to help you in whatever way is easiest for you.

Send an email to donativos@asf.edu.mx or give a call to (55) 5227-4922. volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 37

institutional advancement

Former students were among those who attended the February 20 ceremony to pay tribute to Ms. Florio.

Former students, colleagues and school leaders pay tribute tolongtime ASF drama teacher Angelita Florio and the Green Room named in her honor

O

n February 20, a plaque was unveiled honoring former ASF drama teacher Angelita Florio, forever connecting her name to the Green Room facility behind the stage at the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center.

Nothing could be more fitting. Ms. Florio — revered by her students, respected by her fellow teachers and loved by everybody — was the face of ASF drama throughout her tenure at the school. And she still is, years after her retirement.

Speakers at the plaque ceremony agreed that Angelita was the inspiration for the new theater on campus. In a certain sense, she’s the reason it was built.

“Drama productions would not exist at The American School if it hadn’t been for her,” said Adele Goldschmied, a former ASF art teacher and colleague of Ms. Florio, who has been an important volunteer for this project. “We have her to thank for this theater.”

Theater facilities of any kind were virtually nonexistent when Ms. Florio arrived on campus. In addition to her teaching skills and ability to draw out of her students a talent and self-esteem they didn’t know they had, she was also a famously tireless worker who inspired quality productions in the absence of quality amenities.

“There was no lighting, no air conditioning, a tiny stage at most,” Ms. Goldschmied said. “There was nothing, and she made something absolutely incredible out of it.”

Ms. Florio didn’t disagree about her being hard-working. “I did work very hard,” she said. “I would ask myself sometimes why I was working so hard. I would think, I can’t do this anymore. But you know what? I kept going.”

She does see a silver lining in the meager facilities she worked 38 | volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015

with, including no stage at first and then a very small one. “The experience was very good for my students,” she said. “They had to be creative because they had very little to work with.”

Several of those former students were on hand for the ceremony. “Many of Angelita’s students donated to this theater,” said Frances Huttanus, an ASF Board of Trustees member who played a major role in the fundraising effort for the Fine Arts Center. “It was their way of thanking her for all that she had given them.”

“My students are my reward,” Angelita said. “They’re a constant reminder that my work was not in vain.”

During the plaque ceremony, Ms. Florio went out of her way to recognize another member of the ASF community, “a great supporter of my work and a great supporter of theater.” She was referring to David Ehrenreich, the former trustee and longtime supporter of the school who had passed away just weeks before.

“He’s the one who put the idea in my head that we needed a theater at all,” she said, after asking for a moment of silence in his memory. “I was so busy I never thought about it.”

The Fine Arts Center, the theater and the Green Room — and the plaque itself, for that matter — have been in existence for several years now, but the ceremony gave the ASF community a chance to recognize Ms. Florio’s role in all of them.

(A Green Room is a space of refuge for performers before they take the stage. “It’s a place for last-minute instruction,” Angelita said. “It’s the last time you’re in touch with your director.”)

Speaking for all, Ms. Huttanus summed up: “What we have here today is the result of those incredible productions that came out of the tiny places we had during Angelita’s time.

“And it’s all thanks to the inspiration of Angelita.”

ALUMNI

Everybody’s a winner The 6th annual ASF Run for Education brought out more than a thousand energetic runners.

A

bout 1,300 enthusiastic runners from all age groups turned up at ASF on Sunday, March 8 for the 6th annual Run for Education. Cool but clear conditions made for perfect running weather as participants took part in the 5k, 10k and kids races. As always, everybody was a winner. Here are the top finishers in the major categories: MENS 10K First: Agustín Alfaro Second: Roberto Carlos Rivera Third: Jesús Rubalcaba WOMENS 10K First: Aurora León Second: Nayeli Mendoza Third: Mariana Flores MENS 5K First: Iker Cogordín Mendizábal Second: Juan Sánchez Olguín Third: Marcos Victoria Huitrón WOMENS 5K First: Virginia Márquez Redonda Second: Katerina Waller McClellan Third: Imelda Sánchez Aguilar Special congratulations to those from the ASF community who competed and placed in their age-group category. They included María Elisa Urban García, Sheila Jiménez, Shaunna Abling, Rodrigo Peralta Alarcón, Andrés Caloca Jiménez, Isabel Moscoso, Cristina Sales Rodero and Ivette Berentsen.

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 39

Alumni | profile

Here comes the sun Manuel Wiechers (’05) found it unacceptable that 500,000 rural families were living without electricity. So he started a business to bring it to them — cleanly, affordably and sustainably.

M

anuel Wiechers, who graduated from ASF in 2005, saw the same disturbing statistics that everybody else did.

A half a million Mexican families live without access to electricity. Their light comes from candles and their power from ad hoc sources like diesel. Their energy supply isn’t just inadequate — it’s unhealthy and dangerous.

Like a lot of people, Manuel wanted to do something to improve the situation. Unlike a lot of people, he saw that the way to help the most people quickly — and the nation as a whole in the long run — was to start a business. So he did.

More specifically, he and his partners co-founded Ilumexico, a social enterprise that provides solar energy to rural communities through simple solar home systems.

“We provide the service directly to marginalized families so they can replace hazardous energy sources with a clean one,” says Manuel, who is Ilumexico’s CEO. “As of today, we’ve benefited over 20,000 people, with 3,380 solar installations that represent over 110 kilowatts in 250 rural communities.”

The key to success in those communities is making the costs work for very low-income families. The nature of solar energy is a big part of that. Sunshine is free, after all. Almost all of the cost is in the original equipment — about 3,000 pesos according to Forbes magazine, which ran a feature recently on Manuel and Ilumexico.

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The company also provides the financing, so the families not only have solar-sourced electricity immediately but they pay less in the long run than they would with traditional electricity bills.

“We sell the equipment on credit,” Manuel says. “They purchase a system and pay it off in a three-to-18-month period.”

Manuel was born in Mexico City to Mexican parents. Diversity is in his background. His grandmother is from Iran and his mother spoke English to him as he grew up. Attending ASF as an old-timer (K-12) guaranteed him a bilingual life.

“It was a huge economic effort for my parents to send me to The American School,” he says. “They wanted me to have the best preparation possible.”

He credits his ASF education for laying the groundwork for his future efforts. “It allowed me to be competitive in the university and the workplace,” he says. “It helped me meet a range of people and make contacts that have proven extremely useful.”

Don’t get the idea that Manuel was toying around with solar panels on the ASF campus while his classmates were pursuing traditional classes and playing sports. He was right there with them.

“In high school I was deeply involved in soccer,” he says. “I participated in four ASOMEX tournaments. I was also in AP classes in economics, physics and calculus.”

It was in his second year studying engineering at UNAM that he became passionate (his word) about climate change. His English writing skills helped him win the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Award, which came with a trip to New York for a congress.

When he got back, he founded a student group on energy and the environment.

The company traces its roots to Manuel’s senior thesis, “Renewable Energy for Rural Development.” Then he and his group entered a sustainable energy contest sponsored by the bank Santander, for which they developed prototype hardware. They won the contest and now had the equipment to go into business.

It wasn’t easy to get started, of course. It rarely is.

“There were the typical challenges of getting start-up financing,” Manuel told Forbes Mexico. “But it’s also a challenge just to get to some of the communities. Sometimes the only access is by fording a river.”

Today there are more than 30 members on the Ilumexico team, including partners and employees. The company has a presence in 11 states, with most of the business in Veracruz, Guerrero and Campeche.

“We have local distribution centers using local people who do the marketing, sales, servicing and financing,” Manuel says.

The growth has been impressive. The next step is turning a profit.

“At the moment we are still below break-even,” he says. “Each center is designed to be profitable. We are investing this year in becoming financially sustainable.”

One direction the company is taking for growth is toward the urban market. That includes a special program linking typical urban families with rural marginalized beneficiaries.

“If you think you’re paying a high electricity bill, you can contact us and we can explore a zero-upfront investment in a solar installation that will lower your electricity bill and at the same time support a marginalized family,” he says. (ASF community members — parents, teachers, staff and alumni — can check this out by sending both sides of their CFE bill to the following address for more information: carlos@ilumexico.mx) Manuel sees his business pursuit as an expression of his commitment to his country and the planet. “I feel I have been given the education and the opportunity to create a positive change in society,” he says. “I am passionate about climate change and the injustice it causes by affecting poor people the most, they are the least responsible for creating it. We are also creating jobs and improving Mexican technology.”

Alumni | reunions

Here is a partial list of those who came by.

If you don’t see your name here (or even if you do) let us and Focus readers know your thoughts about your visit, or anything else, by sending an email with a photo to alumni@asf. edu.mx.

From the Class of 1962: Peter Bruckner From the Class of 1964: Charles Simon, Elsa Schuback, Dolores Cárdenas From the Class of 1965: Alma J. Juárez, Eduardo Unanue, Raquel Farca, Dave West, Tony Justman, Bill Kaplan, Jan Kirby, Ann Bivings, Lynn Kahan, Penny Rolston, Henry Bruckner, Stephanie Wilson, Grant Brandon, José Luis Montes, Maxine Proskurowskiu, Jean Flanagan, Grant Brandon, Nanci Silva From the Class of 1967: Clive Dawson, Jill Justman.

Class of 1965 Back to School Members of several ASF graduating classes from the mid-1960s, mostly from 1965, made a campus visit part of their 50-year (or thereabouts) reunion earlier this school year.

Most of the alumni had flown in from the United States for their reunion.

Those who hadn’t visited ASF in recent decades had an eye-opening experience. Only one of the buildings — the Lower School — exists in the same structural form as it did in the 1960s. All others but the Upper School are completely new since then.

Alumni | CLASS NOTES & MILESTONES

’60

Laberinto del silencio, written in Spanish by Lionella D. Bischof was published in November 2014 by Aqua Ediciones.

Says Lionella: “This book is about my life. It is an interesting and true story emphasizing two fundamental issues. One is a search for genetic origins. The other is my father’s tragic death, which occurred on December 9, 1942. Lies and irregularities have perpetrated multiple and irreparable injustices. The importance of this story is the search for the unknown, to discover the hidden lies, to break the silence of more than 50 years. The reader walks with me, hand in hand, through the complexity of this unimaginable story. In the end, the reader invariably will be bewildered and feel the impact.” Laberinto del silencio is available in Mexico City at Librería Gandhi, El Sótano and Porrúa. You can buy it through amazon.com or contact Lionella directly at laberinto@ casadelcolibri.com.”

’59 & ’60

Sylvia Fong came in from Troy, Ohio to get together on campus with three of her friends from the Class of 1959 — Ivonne Romano Galante, Celia Alicia Coronado and María Elena Aguilar — who are Mexico City residents. Also joining the ladies was Lionella Dalkowitz (now Bischoff) from the Class of 1959, and current ASF Trustee Frances Huttanus.

’62

Guillermo Sesma and José García Núñez stopped by campus in February just a few short years after their class graduated from ASF in 1962. The alums took a look around Coach Colman Field and also attended the Founders’ Day activities.

’62

Lilian Barta has been a prolific writer since her class graduated in 1962, having published novels and other works. One place her writing appeared frequently is hinted at in this photo. Lilian was for many years the editor of the Alumni Gazette, a predecessor to Focus.

’93

Larry Rubin was called on to write two timely essays for major publications in January. One, for Newsweek in Spanish, reviewed 21 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement. You can read it at http:// nwnoticias.com/#!/noticias/que-tan-benefico-ha-sido-el-tlcan.

The other appeared in CNNExpansión. The other discusses the significance for Mexican companies of the opening between the United States and Cuba. Find it at http://m.cnnexpansion.com/ opinion/2015/01/16/estados-unidoscuba-el-impacto-en-las-empresas-mexicanas. Larry is president of the American Society of Mexico.

’98

Liora Arditti Laman and Alonso Méndez Yáñez, both ASF alums from the Class of 1998 want the ASF community to know that they were married in 2011. They recently moved back to Mexico City after living four years in Cancún, and brought with them a new member of the family — their almost two-year-old son Alonso Méndez Arditti.

’10

Diego Carral Cervantes was born to Camila Cervantes and Diego Carral on October 31, 2014.

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’93

Santiago Kneeland, a member of the ASF Alumni Council, is the proud father of Luka Kneeland Carvajal, who was born November 28, 2014.

’94

Paola Cesarman was recently selected as a member of a list of Top 100 Corporate Counsels of Latin America by the Legal 500 publication. Says Paola: “I feel an important contribution to this success was my learning and experiences while attending ASF and I wanted to thank the school for that. I have fond memories of my time spent at ASF — the teachers, the staff and my friends — which definitely touched my life and helped me in my professional career.”

’95

Ricardo González recently concluded a three-month exhibition of his paintings at the Asya Gesiberg Gallery in Chelsea in New York City. The name of the show was “Rot Open in Bliss,” which may sound familiar if you’ve read Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. Since graduating from ASF in 1995, Ric received an MFA from New York University after his BFA at the New England School of Art & Design.

He has exhibited in New York, Boston, Berlin, Mexico City, Copenhagen and Santiago, Chile, among other cities.

’98

Jason E. Grossman got a chance to admire the new theater in the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center during a recent visit. Since studying drama at ASF with the legendary Angelita Florio, Jason has gone on to become a Tony Awardwinning producer on Broadway.

A special visit by alums from ASF’s wartime years ASF was honored by a February visit from two members of the Class of 1942 — Thomas Koralek and Magdalena Urquidi. Both brightened an already festive Founders’ Day celebration taking place that day.

Magda was very much involved with school affairs both before and after her graduation, and she brought with her a collection of photos, clippings and alumni magazines from back in the day. She generously donated them to the ASF archives.

But the most valuable gifts that alums of their stature can bring are their memories, their long experience. There are only a handful of people in the world with the perspective about ASF that Tom and Magda offer.

We got a taste of that perspective during a ceremony that same day, in which a plaque was unveiled honoring former longtime drama teacher Angelita Florio, for whom the new Green Room behind the stage in the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center is named.

Ms. Florio and some of her former students talked about the sorry state of ASF’s drama facilities before the FAC was built.

Magda spoke a little too, and part of her talk can be paraphrased as follows: “If you think it was bad then, you should have seen things in my day!”

Of course, in Magda and Tom’s day, the current campus was not even a gleam yet in the trustees’ eyes. They studied at what’s usually called in retrospect ASF’s San Luis Potosí campus (19221946), for its location at the corner of Insurgentes and San Luis Potosí in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma.

Magda was born in Bogotá, Colombia because her father was a Mexican diplomat. Her mother was an English nurse. She attended a government primary school in Mexico City and then enrolled at ASF. The bilingual culture at ASF was to have a major effect on the rest of her life. “I was able to find secretarial work almost immediately after I graduated,” she said. “Strangely enough, I was needed more as a translator than a stenographer.”

After she married, she took her bilingual skills to the next level.

“When the first meeting of the Organization of American States was held in Mexico in the early 1950s, I worked there and got to know some simultaneous interpreters,” she said. “I became part of the first small group of simultaneous interpreters in Mexico.”

Tom also grew up bilingual — Czech and German — in Prague and the Bohemian countryside. He eventually added English, Spanish and French to his repertoire.

When the winds of war stirred he was sent off to study in Switzerland before the Germans marched into his native Czechoslovakia. From there it was on to London and then Mexico City, where he enrolled at ASF.

“I didn’t know Spanish when I came here but I learned it very quickly,” he said. “It was simple. When you’re hungry you learn how to ask for food.”

One difference in that era was the situation in Europe. “A whole lot of boys we knew went off to war,” Magda remembers.

“Many did not come back.”

With the help and encouragement of ASF staffers, Tom was eventually able to study economics at Stanford.

He went to work for Sears Roebuck when he returned to Mexico after earning his degree in 1948. Sears had bought the old ASF building and kept it for a long time as office space, with the shopping area built over the old athletic field.

“It was like going back to school,” Tom remembers. “For a while I was in inventory control, and my office was located in one of my old classrooms.”

Tom’s professional career led to his spending more time in Europe than Mexico, and Magda traveled with her diplomat husband to a number of foreign postings, including in the United States and Japan. The two have remained friends and stay in touch, though they don’t see each other often.

When they do, they’re likely to talk about their time at ASF. For example, Magda was looking at a photo she had clipped from a magazine. It was of the Tamaulipas-born actress Linda Christian, who had appeared in Hollywood films and was married for a time to Tyrone Power.

Her name was Linda Welter when she was a classmate of Tom and Magda’s at ASF. “Remember, Tom, how all the boys used to stop studying to look at her when she came into the classroom?” Magda asked.

“Yes, I do,” said Tom. “I was one of them.”

Ronny Bassini (’74) Ara Arakelian Perchemlian (’51) The ASF community is saddened by the death in February of a patriarch of one of its most distinguished and beloved families. Ara Arakelian’s mother Nelly Perchemlian (’31) was the first of many generations to attend ASF, a family legacy that continues to this day. The extended Arakelian family has not only been loyal students and alumni, but generous supporters of the school. We join the entire ASF community in mourning the passing of Ara Arakelian. He is already greatly missed by all. We also understand that his loss is felt even more deeply by his family members. Our hearts go out to each and every one of them.

Alumni | in memoriam

On January 12, 2015 the ASF community lost a cherished alumnus, Ronny Bassini. A friend and classmate, Vivian Lampell, sent in the following words of remembrance, for which we are very grateful: “Ronny was the class valedictorian. Aside from his great intellect, he was a person of enormous character, integrity, modesty and kindness. He left an indelible imprint in our lives. After The American School, Ronny did a double major in architecture and engineering at Yale and went on to Columbia University. He returned to Mexico to start an upholstery manufacturing business and be with his extended family. Then he moved to Santa Rosa, California, and went on to start a new career in the insurance industry. He is survived by his beloved wife Kathy, his two sons and a daughter.

“Ronny, we will truly miss you in this world. Thank you for the gifts you left us.”

volume XIV, ISSUE 1, 2015 | 43

Kids’ corner

Expressing ourselves through art

Grade 3 students spent some time this year investigating the IB Primary Years Programme unit of inquiry: “I express myself through art.”

Within broad boundaries, they are given some freedom to express themselves, and each student comes up with a unique perspective.

The students, most aged 8 years, are learning to draw to proportion — no more huge heads and sticks for arms and legs — and this can be seen in their drawings of themselves in movement.

Another artwork within the same unit of inquiry saw them make an Andy Warhol-style self-portrait, concentrating on including a foreground of the artist and background that incorporates color and shape.

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April 22

Tickets at PA oďŹƒce

ASF goes to